• by Adam Buckman , Featured Columnist, August 23, 2023

One question that is sure to be asked of the eight GOP presidential hopefuls at Wednesday’s televised debate on Fox News will be some variation on this: If Donald Trump were here now, what would you say to him?

This kind of question -- indeed, the very subject of Trump -- is sure to be on the minds of the debate’s questioner-moderators Brett Baier and Martha McCallum, and the debate’s eight Republican qualifiers.

Trump has declined to participate, and will be noticeably absent. The prevailing opinion of the political commentators is that he really doesn’t have to. 

“When you have a 40-point lead in the opinion polls and 100% name recognition, why would you risk taking to a stage to exchange unpleasantries with people most viewers wouldn’t recognize if they lived in their basement?” asked The Wall Street Journal’s Gerard Baker in a column published on Tuesday.

Trump’s absence will be felt by both the network and the other candidates. For Fox News, as for all news platforms -- network, cable, online -- in good times or bad, no one draws eyes quite like Donald Trump.

This is why questions about him from the Fox News moderators are likely to be asked of the fateful eight, ensuring that Trump will be at the debate as a topic, if not in person.

What these other candidates say about him will make news.

For them, Trump’s absence represents a lost opportunity to confront him on live TV on his legal entanglements, the divisiveness of his rhetoric, some of his policies and other baggage.

They must all be hankering for a chance to put on a show like that, but they’re not going to get it.

How commanding is Trump’s lead right now? While the latest poll numbers differ slightly according to which polling source you care to cite, they all tell the same story: Trump is way ahead.

For example, the latest results from Morning Consult, updated on Monday, have Trump at 58% in its survey conducted August 18-20 among 3,608 potential Republican primary voters if their primary or caucus was held in their state right now.

Only two of the eight GOP hopefuls who will face off in Wednesday’s debate scored double-digit percentages in this survey: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (14%) and entrepreneur and political newcomer Vivek Ramaswamy (10%). 

Both pictured above, they are the two second-place frontrunners. As such, they will be positioned next to each other center stage at the debate.

The other six are: Former vice president Mike Pence (6%), former U.N. ambassador and one-time North Carolina governor Nikki Haley (3%), Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina (3%), former New Jersey governor Chris Christie (3%), former Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson (1%) and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum (0%).

The TV Blog does not know how Gov. Burgum made the cut with a 0% poll number. Perhaps he made it to 1% in some of the other polls.

Wednesday night’s debate is the first clash of GOP candidates in what will be another typically long campaign slog leading up to the conventions next summer and Election Day on November 5, 2024.

The debate starts at 9 p.m. Eastern, live from Milwaukee on Fox News Channel and other FNC platforms.

Photo of Donald Trump courtesy of CBS News’ “60 Minutes.”